Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology
Volume 11 | Issue 1
Article 16
1920
Notes and Abstracts
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NOTES AND ABSTRACTS
ANTHROPOLOGY-PsYCHOLOGY-LEGAL-MEDICINE
Note regarding differences among state institutions for the feeble-minded in the make-up of their populations, as indicative of the adequacy of state care for mental defectives.-The writers have been much interested recently, in connection with visits made to a number of state institutions, in certain large differences between different schools for the feeble-minded in the make-up of the institution populations. Especially, it seemed to them, there were very large differences between different states in the extent to which their institutions took care of high grade cases-the type which is par-ticularly a social menace. It has been hoped that comparisons might be made of a number of state schools by means of group tests of intelligence, data of some definiteness being thus obtained with regard to this matter. Such sur-veys have not yet been found possible. Certain other facts bearing upon the subject have, however, been obtained, which are of some interest in them-selves and are suggestive of further study.
The data concern the age distributions for the cases in the institutions of a large New' England state, and of a state in the middle west. The New, England state has two institutions for the feeble-minded, the mid-western state one; from each of these three institutions an age census was obtained. In the eastern state a total of 2,812 cases were cared for in institutions, in the western state a total of 1,413.1 The age distributions are as follows:
Number Number
Age Western State Eastern State
U nder5 ... 0 25
5-9 ... 25 283
10-14 ... 195 715
15-19 ... 268 802 20-24 ... 251 489
25-29 ... 191 226 30-39 ... 311 203
40-49 ... 134 58
50 and over ... 38 11 Total ... 1,413 2,812
SCasual inspection at once shows certain differences in the age incidence of th institutional cases of the eastern and western states. These differences
CRIMINAL PSYCHOLOGY 119
pear more clearly, however, if the data are more heavily grouped and shown in terms of per cent. The result is the following table:
Age Western Eastern
0-14 ... 220 1,023 15-29 ... 710 1,517 30-44 ... 404 241 45- ... 79 31
Or in terms of per cent:
Age Western Eastern
0-14 ... 16%o 36% 15-29 ... 50%0 54% 30-44 ... 28% 9% 45-. ... 6% 1%
The striking feature is the small proportion of children in the western institution. Superficially this is somewhat surprising. Other things being equal, the older an institution the more likely it is to have a large number of cus-todial cases. We might, therefore, expect just the reverse of the situation indicated above. One factor in the matter is simple and obvious enough. The western state has a law providing for the commitment of adult women who are a social menace, for the child-bearing period; as a result its "school" for the feeble-minded is burdened with such purely custodial cases. This may be the large factor; but the writers cannot believe that the more general apprecia-tion of the problem of mental defect in the east, with the result that cases are recognized earlier and their need for care in an institution better under-stood, is a fundamental influence. Anyhow the outstanding fact is this: that early care for the feeble-minded is lacking in the western state; its one insti-tution had at the time of the census (1918) only 25 cases below 10 years of age out of a total population of 1,400. As was said at the beginning, the writers had also the imp'ression that there was a difference in the type of cases in the institutions of the two states, that the western state was lacking in provision for both the younger and the higher grade cases.
This is, .perhaps, a large amount of generalization from data woefully inadequate for the understanding of such a complex problem. The writers are presenting these few bits of fact with the hope that they may stimulate further study. As has already been suggested, a series of systematic institutional sur-veys, by means of mental tests and otherwise, should yield data of great interest in studying such matters. It should also be mentioned that the extension of such surveys to cover penitentiaries and reform schools, and also orphan asylums and other similar institutions would seem well worth while. It would be decidedly interesting to know whether in proportion as a state fails to make provision for its high grade feeble-minded cases in an institution for them, it may not be forced to care for these cases in correctional schools or as public charges.-Professor S. L. Pressey, University of Indiana;
120 PROBATION SYSTEM
The lowest chronological age was 22, the highest 30, with a median of 24. The distribution of states from which they came into the army was: Okla-homa, 4; North Carolina, 4, Kentucky, 2; Texas, 2; Mississippi, 1; Georgia, 1; District of Columbia, 1. They reported the following school attendance:
No schooling ... 4
One year schooling ... 2
Two years schooling ... 1
Three years schooling ... 1
Four -years schooling ... 3
Five years schooling ... 2
Seven years schooling ... 1
Eight years schooling ... 1
The median is 3 years of school attendance. Of these fifteen men, 4 were common laborers, 10 farmers, and 1 an actor. The weekly wages as given by the men were, before they entered the army, for nine of them from $4.00 to $55.00 per week. The one getting $55.00 was an actor. The average for the nine was $28.75. Six stated that they merely received the crop and could not estimate their income. Six reported that they were unmarried, eight that they were married and one was not sure whether he was or not. Ten reported that they had no children, four that they one child and one that he had two children. The following venerial report was given: N on-venerial ... 7
Gonorrhea ... 6
Syphilis ... 1
Syphilis and Gonorrhea ... 1
The Stanford-Binet test was given to get the mental age. This ranged from 8 years 6 months to 12 years 8 months, with a median of 10 years 2 months. Of the fifteen, twelve had a mental age of less than 12 years.
Of these men twelve rated as morons and the other three were border-line cases. It would be interesting to know if a large majority of the men court-martialed in the army were not feeble-minded or borderline cases. All of the above would rate as such. At the same time they were considered mentally responsible for their acts. It would also be of interest' to find out the relation between schooling and the accusation of crime. It was evident from the examination of these men that each had lived in an environment which corresponded to his natural mental endowments.--C E. Benson, Professor of Psychology, State Teacher's College, Cape Girardeau, Mo.
CouRTs-LAws
Probation System in U. S. Courts.-The following bill for the estab-lishment of a probation system in the United States courts, "ekcept in the )Dis-trict of Columbia (H. R. 12036) was introduced in the House of Rejresenta-tives, Sixty-sixth Congress, Second Session, on January 24, 1920, by. Mr. Augustine Lonergan, H. R., First District Conn.:
4Bi. e ;xnacted by the Senate dnd House oi Reprse'ntative of te- Untited States "of.America in Congress assembled, That the judge or judges 6f any
United States court having original jurisdiction of criminal actions, excejt'iff" the District of Columbia, may appoint one or more persons 'to serve a§
PROBATION SYSTEM
121
judges making such appointment or their successors. Such judge or judges may, in their discretion, remove any probation officer serving in such court.
The appointment of each probation officer shall be in writing and shall be entered on the records of the court of the judge or judges making such ap-pointment, and copies of the order of appointment shall be delivered to the officer so appointed and filed in the office of the Attorney General. Each pro-bation officer before entering upon the duties of his office shall take an oath of office, to be administered by a judge of such court. Each probation officer, in the discretion of the judge or judges making the appointment or their suc-cessors, may be required to furnish a bond in such sum and with such securities as such judge or judges shall direct. Such oath of office and such bond shall be filed with the clerk of the court in which such officer is serving.
Such judge or judges shall determine whether any probation officer shall receive a salary, and if so, shall fix the amount thereof, subject in each case to the approval of the Attorney General: Provided, That probation officers who are to receive salaries shall be appointed after competitive examination held in accordance with the laws and regulations of the civil service of the United States. Such judge or judges may allow any probation officer his actual ex-penses necessarily incurred in the performance of his duties. Such salary and expenses when so determined and approved shall be paid from the ap-propriations for the contingent expenses of the court or courts in which such officer serves.
Sec. 2. That after a plea or verdict of guilty or a plea of nolo contendere in a prosecution for any crime or offense, except those punishable by death or life imprisonment, in any United States court having original jurisdiction of criminal actions, except in the District of Columbia, the court may suspend sentence and may also place the defendant on probation under the supervision of a probation officer for such period and under such conditions of probation as the court shall determine, or the court may impose a fine and may also place the defendant on probation in the manner aforesaid. The court may revoke or modify any condition of probation, or may change the period of probation:
Provided, That the original period of probation, together with any extension
thereof, shall not exceed five years.
While on probation the defendant may be required to pay in one or several sums a fine imposed at the time of being placed on probation and may also be required to make restitution or reparation to the aggrieved party or parties for actual damages or. loss caused by the offense for which conviction was had, and may also be required to provide for the support of any person or per-sons for whose support he is legally responsible.
The court may revoke the suspension of sentence or the probation, and cause the defendant to be arrested and brought before the court at any time within the probation period, or at any time after the probation period, but within the maximum period for which the defendant might originally have been sen--tenced.. ,Thereupon the court may impose-.any. sentence which might;Driginally-have been imposed.
122 WOMEN OFFENDERS
c6nditiong of probation and shall instruct him regarding the same. Such* officer shall lkeep informed concerning the conduct and condition of each per-son on probation' under 'his supervision and shall report thereon at least mohtbly to the" court 'placing such person on probation. Such officer shall use'
all suitable ihethods, not inconsistent with the conditions imposed by the court, to aid persons on probation and to bring about improvement in their conduct and coriditi6n. Stich officer shall keep records of his work; shall keep ac-curate and tomplete accounts of all moneys collected from persons under his supervision, shall give receipts therefor, and shall make at least monthly re-turns thereof; shall make such reports to the Attorney General as he may at any time require; and shall perform such other duties as the court may direct. A probation officer shall have such power of arrest as is now exercised by a deputy marshal.
Sec. 4. That this Act shall take effect immediately.
PENOLOGY
Women Offenders and Offenses in Chicago.-Fifty per cent of tle women whose cases form the basis of the report of social service work in the Women's Department,, Chicago House of Correction, September 1, 1917, to March 1, 1919, were committed to the House.of Correction under the Disorderly Conduct Ordinance, known at 2012. While a 2012 charge may represent, and is generally looked upon as a "petty.offense," due to the elasticity of the ordinance, it may be made to embrace anything from the smallest misdemeanor up to a penitentiary offense, and the punishment may be a $5.00 fine, or it may be $206.50. The total number of women included in the study is 130.
In studying the 2012 offenders, we find that the group is made up of almost an equal iumber of young first commitments and old offenders-the types that present the most hopeful and the least hopeful possibilities, and the very ones that should not be found in the House of Correction at all.
The dld alcoholics and drug addicts, coming each 'time before a 4lifferent judge, are'repeatedly sent to the House of Correction on a 2012 charge with a fine of $5.00 and $10.00 costs, when, if given the maximum sentence, they would at least be given the best opportunity that exists under present legal' provision to be kept a longer time, and to get the poisons out of their sys-temi and build up their'physical strength.
The young first' commitments sent to the House of Correction on a 2012 chirge are classed with the old offenders, when an investigation preceding trial would have resulted, in many cases, in probation or release.
Great care and caution is used by the court in the treatment of the girl up fo eighteen years, but as soon as she gets'beyond this age she is open to the saie treatment as the old offendei, unless some one is present to urge proba-tion'or unlesst'he'judge suggests investigation and probation, neither of whichl is tle case iii many instances. Why should not the juvenile-adult girl offender be v-eco~ifized and given the same consideration as the juvenile-adult boy, offender?
WOMEN OFFENDERS
for studying underlying causes or needs; also, the absence of proper investiga-tion or informainvestiga-tion before the judge at the time of trial makes it necessary for him to deal with an offender on the basis of the charge only.
Here again, we might emphasize the need of a Central Detention Home for women with a Woman's Court in connection. The Social Service Department in connection with such institutions would have the social, mental and physical history and previous record prepared for the court when the woman came to trial and her case could be disposed of with discrimination and intelligence, and not in the ineffective and unscientific manner -now prevailing.
Larcenies: The larceny group, which comprises 25.2 per cent of the 484
cases reported on, presents a most difficult problem. As an adult correctional group they have been the least studied and observed, either from a psychopathic or sociological standpoint. They are difficult to place in employment, difficult of approach and hard to understand.
Five distinct types have come under our observation: The chronic thief, termed a "kleptomaniac," who has an innate desire to steal; the type whose moral strength has been impaired through the use of liquor or drugs, and who steals from habit; the girl who gets into bad company for the first time, and finding the way open and easy, takes a silk waist or silk stockings; the young woman whose earnings are insufficient to meet her desires, and who takes a fur, a muff, or a pair of slippers, and, lastly, the type whose motive cannot be ex-plained-the young woman of good mentality, in comfortable circumstances, with a providing husband and one or more children, who makes a chance trip downtown and steals a waist or skirt for which she has no immediate need.
When the disposition to steal is traceable to the use of liquor or drugs, defective mentality, or bad company, there is a possibility of rehabilitation in removing the cause or the occasion, but the last mentioned type, whose motive for stealing cannot be analyzed or explained, is altogether baffling and discour-aging.
The following cases may serve to illustrate this type:
M. W.-White. Age 24. Married before. Husband age 27.
Earn-ing $22.00, a week.
One child, age 3. Pregnant 2 months.
Mentality good. Attended school in Warsaw to age of 15. Quiet temperament.
Took fancy underwear from department store. Fine $31.50. Sentence 4 months.
Served sentence at House of Correction 3 years ago for same offense. No other arrest or trouble.
S. H.-White. Age 22. Husband age 22. Earning $17.00-$30.00 a week.
No children.
Mentality fair. Attended school in Poland to age of 14. Quiet temperament.
Stole house slippers from department store. Fine $7.50. Sentence 60 days.
No previous arrest.
WOMEN OFFENDERS
Mentality average. Attended country school to age of 12. Stole two waists and skirt from department store. Fine $7.50. Sentence 30 days.
Arrested on same charge one year ago and placed on probation.
An intensive, scientific study of larceny cases would be illuminating and helpful to all who are engaged in correctional work, and would, no doubt, reveal a method of treatment other than fines or short sentences. The records of the Department could contribute much valuable information to such a study.
Contributing to the Delinquency or Dependency of Children: This
rep-resents the third largest group, and as stated elsewhere in this report, usually has the interest or attention of the Juvenile Court or Juvenile Protective As-sociation before and after commitment to the House of Correction.
Moral Offenses: Keeping a disorderly house, inmates of disorderly house,
and soliciting, represent a small percentage of this group; perhaps, due to the fact that most offenses involving morals are committed from the Morals Court, also for the reason that these offenders are often sentenced under a 2012 charge. As mentioned before, all Morals Court cases are looked after by the social worker from this court. Few of these women ask or want assistance of any kind. Occasionally the younger women will ask to have employment found for them, but are generally transferred to Lawndale Hospital, and we do not hear from them again.
Disposition of Cases: As is generally known, the methods used in
dis-posing of offenders are: a fine, a sentence, or a sentence and fine. Of the 484 offenders discussed in this report, 296, or 61.1 per cent, were given a fine, 53 a sentence; 131 a fine and sentence; 4 were emergency cases.
The present system has been one of the greatest impediments to success in working out a constructive plan for many of the House of Correction women. The law stipulates nothing and requires nothing of the person paying the fine, except that he have the necessary amount. There is no authority granted or provision made to investigate the character, responsibility, or motive of the person paying the fine, and there is no way, except by accident, of finding out on what condition the woman has secured her release, or where she has gone.
The time, effort and possibilities lost in making a plan to assist a woman and then have her unexpectedly releaged under these circumstances, are small considerations when contrasted with the possibilities for evil -under such a system. We could cite dozens of instances where girls or women were, through the payment of fines, forced back, many times against their wishes, to evil companions, worthless men, unhappy homes, or lives of crime, or trace of them lost entirely.
PRISONS OF NEW ZEALAND 125
The attitude toward the law of the person who serves time because of poverty is too obvious to need lengthy comment. Yet, one-half of these serv-ing sentences at the House of Correction, are there for the non-payment of fines. Regarding this, the City Council Committee on Crime (1915) p. 43, says: "That this system which virtually sends men to jail because of their poverty is not only unjust but demoralizing to the individual and costly to the state is now becoming widely recognized. In many places the more enlightened system has been adopted of suspending sentence and sending the man back to his family and his 'job,' and allowing him to pay his fine in small install-ments. This installment-fine system was adopted in Massachusetts in 1909, and has been more widely used each year in that state. It is also used at the present time in New York, in Indianapolis, in Kansas City and in Cleveland. Chicago would not be making a hazardous experiment if she released the 85 per cent of offenders in the House of Correction who are there for the non-payment of fines to go back to work under the supervision of probation officers."-From Bulletin of the Department of Public Welfare, Chicago, Vol. II, No. 5. Louise Osborne Rowe, Commissioner.
The Report on Prisons of New Zealand for the Year 1918-19, Also Operations of the First Offenders Probation Act, 1908, p. 32, Thomas M. Wilford, Minister in Charge of Prisons Department, Wellington, New Zealand; The Report of the Prisons Department of the Prisons Board for 1918, p. 4, Robert Stout, President, Wellington, New Zealand.-It is in-teresting to note that in 1918 in New Zealand there was a marked decrease in the number of persons sentenced to civil imprisonment in New Zealand. The decrease was far less proportionately than in Great Britain. Whether it was a result of the smaller number of persons sentenced or not the report does not state, but there was a considerable reduction in the number of short" sentences imposed and a substantial increase in the number of persons sen-tenced to twelve months and upwards.
The number of military offenders serving terms of imprisonment in the civil prisons reached the highest total during the war. These offenders were kept separate from "the criminal class" and employed in useful reproductive work. The presence of agitators in two of the prisons led to a policy of passive resistance on the part of the military offenders in those prisons and made considerable trouble. The report recommends that military offenders should be confined in places entirely outside the jurisdiction of the prisons department.
The gross expenditure of the department (12 prisons and some minor gaols) were £95,324. The cash and financial credits earned by the department were -£21,654. These were for farm produce, farm stock, bricks, boots, prison labor on the new rifle range, etc. There was an additional amount of prison labor for which cash credits were not earned. This was £19,823, making the net cost of the prisons department to the state £42,270. The report claims that every able-bodied prisoner is as fully employed as "our system can compel him to be."
ARRESTS OF MINORS
detained beyond the period of their sentences that they might be treated for venereal disease-one case for 26 months.
The report does not say anything about prison management nor about prisoners' organizations such as "welfare leagues," if any such exist.
The part of the report that deals with probation records satisfactory work with probationers. The following recommendations should be noted: That the probation officer be given an allowance to use in putting young delinquents on their feet and that probationers be put on lengthy, not short, terms, giving the probation officer the right to ask for a remission of part of the sentence. The report of the prisons board calls attention to the fact that a larger proportion of the group classed as "Reformation Detention Cases" refrain from getting into further difficulty than the "habitual criminal." The propor-tions are 80% of the first group and 52% of the second group. The statistics show that 47% of the habitual criminals return to their former criminal careers; 1% have absconded or not been traced. Because of the heredity of the repeated offenders the board recommends the consideration of sterilization.-Joel Dubois Hunter, Chicago.
MIIScuLANEOUS
Statistics of Arrests of Minors in Paris in 1918.-The following statis-tics prepared by M. Harduin, chief of the first division of the Prefecture de
police, are published in the Revue pinitentiaire et de droit pinal in the July-October, 1919, issue.
There were arrested in 1918, 6,258 minors (children and young persons under twenty-one years of age) as compared with 6,792 in 1917, a decrease of 534. In 1918 the 6,258 minors were the occasion of 6,591 arrests. In 1917 the
6,792 minors were the occasion of 7,433 arrests, a decrease in 1918 of 842
arrests. Of those arrested, 20 per cent in 1918 and 21 per cent in 1917 were girls or young women. The age distribution of those arrested is as follows:
Decrease
1918 1917 in 1918
Up to 16 years ... 892 1,147 255
16 to 18 years ... 2,451 2,759 298
18 up to 21 years ... 3,248 3,537 289
Total ... 6,591 7,433 842 This apparent decrease in crime among young persons of all ages and of both sexes is especially interesting when examined in relation to specific of-fenses. Some significant decreases in 1918 are in the following offenses:
1918 1917
Murders, assassinations ... 50 91 M endicity ... 18 41
Vagabonds ... 1,010 1,296
Carrying prohibited weapons ... 213 253
Robbery ... .... 3,014 3,278 Robbery with violence at night ... 1,861 2,444 Pocket-picking ... 58 89 The offenses are classified, and changes in 1918 as compared with 1917 are summarized as follows:
LYNCHING 127
Offenses against property: decrease of 257 Offenses against morals: increase of 30 Miscellaneous: increase of 51.
In addition to the above, all offenses against the common law, statistics are given for the offense of prostitution. In 1918, 1,927 girls and young women were arrested 2,729 times for the offense of prostitution in comparison with 1,908 young persons arrested 2,842 times in 1917 for this offense. There is noted, therefore, an increase for 1918 of 19 in the number of persons ar-rested for this offense and a decrease of 113 arrests.-Edith Abbott, University of Chicago.
Alcoholism and Crime in France.-Members of the jury of the
Cour d'assises de la Seine for the second session of the month of July, 1919,
addressed to the chancellor the'following letter in order to call to his'atten-tion the deplorable consequences of the development of alcoholism (le Temps, August, 1917).
"Of 27 cases inscribed on the docket of this session, 14 have been de-cided, and in 10 of these alcohol has been the initial cause if not the sole cause of the crime. The result: seven human lives lost.
"At a time when the productive force of their (our) glorious country has been so reduced, it appears to them (us) inadmissible that society should have no resource by which to defend itself from the scourge of alcoholism except to pass sentence on its misdeeds and to have no means of prevention. "If the law does not furnish sufficient weapons for this purpose, they think you are best qualified to know what measures are necessary and to obtain them by legislative action. In so doing you would prevent the loss of time and energy of the members of the jury, lawyers, judges who could then be employed in ways more useful to society who now have no energy or no time to lose, and especially you would bring about a saving of human lives, the number of which is more and more precious."
The comment of the Revue on the above letter is that while one must not overvalue such a suggestion, the quality of the signatures requires the atten-tion of the public authorities to the facts which have occasioned it.-Revue
pinitenuiaire, July-October, 1919-Edith Abbott, University of Chicago.
Lynching, an Evil of County
Government.-I have just read with great interest an address of 21 pages delivered before the Georgia Bar Association by Mr. Robert C. Alston, "Concerning Lynchihg."
Mr. Alston is different from most lawyers and orators in his pictures of word painting, in that he not only puts life and expression in them, but he puts brains.
Life, liberty and property are three things that the law must guarantee to man before trial, and especially to him who lives in the South. There is not any brighter light shining today than Robert Cotton Alston.
128 LYNCHING
Lynchings
Area in in 1915
Popu-States Counties sq. miles to Oct. 11 lation
Alabama ... 67 51,998 7 2,138,093
Arizona ... 14 113,956 2 204,354
Arkansas ... ; ... 75 53,335 3 1,574.449
California ... 58 158,297 .. 2,577,549
Colorado ... 63 103,948 .. 799,024
Connecticut ... 8 4,965 1,114,756
Florida ... 50 58,666 4 751,139
Georgia ... 152 59,265 14 2,609,121
Idaho ... 33 83,888 325,954
Illinois ... 102 56,665 1 5,638,591
Indiana ... 92 36,354 .. 2,700,876
Iowa ... 99 56,147 .. 2,224,771
Kansas ... 105 82,158 1,690,949
Kentucky ... 120 40,598 5 2,289,905
Louisiana ... 61 48,506 3 1,656,388
Maine ... 16 33,040 .. 742,371
Maryland ... 24 12,327 .. 1,295,346
Massachusetts ... 14 8,266 .. 3,366,416
Michigan ... 83 57,980 .. 2,810,173
Minnesota ... 86 84,682 2.075,708
Mississippi ... 80 46,865 6 1,797,114
Missouri ... 115 69,420 2 3,293,335
Montana ... 31 146,997 .. 376,053
Nebraska ... 93 77,520 .. 1,192,214
Nevada ... 16 110,690 .. 81,875
New Jersey ... 21 8,224 .. 2,537,167
New Hampshire ... 10 9,341 .. 430,572
New Mexico ... 26 122,634 .. 327,301
New York ... 62 49,204 9,113,275
North Carolina ... 100 52,426 4 2,206,287
North Dakota ... 50 70,837 .. 577,056
Ohio ... 88 41,040 4,767,121
Oklahoma ... 77 70,057 3 1,657,155
Oregon ... 34 96,699 .. 672,765
Pennsylvania ... 67 45,126 .. 7,665,111
Rhode Island ... 5 1,248 542,610
South Carolina ... 44 30,989 i 1,515,400
South Dakota ... 61 77,615 583,888
Tennessee ... 96 42,022 3 2,184,789
Texas ... 248 265,896 20 3,896,542
Utah ... 27 84,990 .. 373,351
Vermont ... 14 9,564 .. 355,956
Virginia ... 120 42,627 .. 2,061,612
Washington ... 39 69,127 .. 1,141,990
West Virginia ... 55 24,170 .. 1,221,119
Wisconsin ... 71 56,066 .. 2,333,860
Wyoming ... 21 97,914 .. 145,698
Alaska (Territory) ... 590,884 ...
The total number of lynchings in the United States from 1885 to October 11, 1915, was 3,583. From the figures submitted one will see at a glance that 78 lynchings took place in nine and one-half months last year. The astounding fact is that 77 were in the South and only one in the North.
LYNCHING
that each of our states has within it a great number of small states or counties (I call them family governments). For an illustration we will take Georgia. She has only 2,609,121 inhabitants and 152 county governments (and the present legislature is trying to give birth to "sextette"), and the different little Georgia county or family governments lynched 14 citizens of the United States in nine and one-half months, while South Carolina, the hottest state in our Union, on her east, only has 44 little family governments (or counties), so she only lynched one, and we find Alabama on our west with 67 county or family gov-ernments lynching seven. Of course, as she only shows about half as many little families as Georgia, so she only lynched about half as many. Alabama's population, though, is only 2,158,093; so you see she has kept up to record. Then Mississippi, with 80 counties and only 1,797,114 inhabitants, lynching six, and Texas, with 248 family governments and only 3,896,542 inhabitants, lynch-ing 20.
We must understand that area does not count for much, although I have furnished it in my figures-population is what makes a family, and the indi-viduals are the ones that are guaranteed life, liberty and property before trial.
Look at the figures and see how dear old Maryland shines-no lynchings, there-she is not overorganized; she has 'only 24 good counties; therefore, she has good government. If Georgia would merge her counties down to the same proportion at Maryland she would have only 49 instead of 152 and get rid of 103 county outfits and stop the pay of over 2,000 employes she don't need and 2,000 more men that make up her grand juries, etc., and then lynching and whitewashing of crime would stop and equity would be found.
The record shows that New York and Pennsylvania have 16,778,986 popu-lation and only 129 counties combined, against Georgia's 152; in other words, Georgia has 23 more. Again, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama have about the same popula-tion as New York and Pennsylvania, and they have combined counties of 950, against New York and Pennsylvania of 129. The United States has three prisons for all her landed territory, while the states named have 950, or one for each county.
I quote from R. C. Alston's address, pages 12, 19 and 20:
"It is, of course, first the duty of the citizen to refrain from lawlessness, and thereby deprive the general government of excuse for this interference with state laws.
"It is next the duty of the state to so order its laws that the insufficiency of them will not be so glaring and atrocious.
"No one who has the slightest knowledge of the subject doubts but that the laws of this state are inadequate to the subject, both as to enactment and administration.
"The system is such that they always will be inadequate in administration unless they are materially altered.
130 LYNCHING
and their friends. So he reasons that it is better to be overpowered, to be sur-prised or to be away from the jail.
"No serious attempt made by a jailer to prevent a lynching in Georgia has been brought to light in a long time. This does not means that there are not, and have not been, in Georgia jailers who would discharge their duties in this behalf. No doubt there have been, and are many such. The very fact that there are such is sufficient in and of itself to often prevent the crime in the jurisdiction of such officers.
"This defect in the state's laws is glaring and has existed for a long time in spite of much provocation. The first authority to give heed to this condi-tion is the state. By its own enactment it should reserve this source of initiative. Sheriffs form a part of the administrative or executive departments of the state. They should be made accountable to the executive head of the state in such matters; or, if not to him, then they should, in such cases, be amenable directly to the Supreme Court exercising original jurisdiction.
"The governor can remove a railroad commissioner; why not a sheriff? The power need only be written into law.
"No one who feels himself the guardian of state rights will for one -moment dare arouse the power of the Federal Government to ekercise its power to guarantee, by appropriate legislation, that the state will not deprive a citizen of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor deny him the equal protection of the law.
"I have not spoken of those powers that a way may be pointed out to the Federal 'Government by which its powers may be extended. No man desires more than I that those powers be not extended over the domestic citizenship of the people; no one realizes more than I that the future prosperity of the southern part of this country rests upon the rights of the state to finally and fully deal with this question without interruption. No one desires more than I that it be dealt with wisely and frankly and generously.
"But it is intended by what has been said to point out to you, and to those whom I desire to think of as my people, that the rights most deeply cherished and privileges which are of the very essence of our lives are being endangered by a surrender to passions which are base and to a wilfulness which exchanges the desire of the moment for the very fundamentals of our domestic life.
"Who will deny that even selfish wisdom dictates that justice and modera-tion should prevail over lawless passion, which in its fury destroys the victim, yet doubly makes victims of its devotees?
"What excuse has the state for failing to adequately protect the prisoner under its lock and key or in its custody?
"What reason is there for withholding the enactment of laws which will make the sheriff and his deputies amenable to a jurisdiction which is composed of persons other than the offenders and their sympathizers?
"No one believes that any lyncher will be punished, and experience shows that no real effort will be made to find who the lynchers are.
EDUCATION IN THE ARMY
"The legislator has felt that he would antagonize local feeling if he pro-moted laws which would give the state a real means of redressing and pre-venting this crime. He would encounter the argument that the locality should govern itself.
"But he should know that by withholding such laws and by denying such protection to the persons who are in the custody of the law he participates in perpetuating a situation which demands remedy and which, if unremedied, invites the interference of the central government, and threatens, to a degree which we do not like to contemplate, the rights of the state over matters absolutely essential to our welfare.
"The legislator will find that the real enemy of local self-government is he who persists in the maintenance of a system of laws which do not, in fact, govern, but which offer the shadow for substance.
"The man who most imperils the right of the state to govern its own affairs is he who aids it to govern wrongfully."
-W. E. Wimpy, in Manufacturer's Record, Aug. 24, 1916.
Education and Recreation in the Army.-That education and recrea-tion as applied to the new army has passed the experimental stage and is now a vital factor in the training of the soldier was shown at a convention of army educational officers, held at Camp Zachary Taylor, near Louisville, Kentucky, on December 9, 10, and. 11, 1919.
Early in the year, the War Department actuated by a deep sense of re-sponsibility felt towards the millions of men brought into the service during the war, as well as by the astounding facts as to illiteracy and physical con-dition of the young men of the country as shown by draft statistics, and the excellent work done by the Commission on Education and Special Training, had conceived an army built on a new plan. It was proposed to make the army not only a military force to be trained and ready in time of national emergency, but a great educational institution where young men of the best mental, moral and physical conditions, and with the highest ideals of patriotic citizenship would be produced.
This plan was realized, in a measure, when the Congress appropriated the sum of $2,000,000 to be devoted to this purpose during the fiscal year 1920. Accordingly, in September of this year instructions went forward to the com-manding generals of all divisional camps and of territorial departments, who at once appointed on their staffs officers known as education and recreation officers to assume direct charg6 of the work. Each officer has associated with him at least one civilian expert in educational affairs, who furnishes assistance and advice in establishing schools and manual training classes.
But it remained for the Camp Taylor Convention, called by the Secretary of War in order that the work in general might be co-ordinated and rough places smoothed out, to show that the army is now in reality a great training school where the mothers of our young Americans will be glad to see their boys go. This idea of the army as a vast university in khaki is admittedly hard to conceive, but nevertheless the thing has been accomplished right before our eyes.
train-132 EDUCATION IN THE ARMY
ing only for a few hours of the dayoand leaving him almost entirely to his own resources for the remainder of the day. It now assumes responsibility for the entire twenty-four hours of his day, and sees that every portion is gainfully spent in useful study or helpful recreation. In the soldier's life, educa-tion and recreaeduca-tion now have equal places with military training, and are definitely scheduled in the programme of daily work.
All training, whether purely military or educational, has as its main object the development of the soldier's mind to make him a responsible thinking human being. Every soldier, however poorly he may be educated, or however limited his experience, has still a thinking mind, and that mind is active prac-tically all the time. Such a man is perhaps incapable at the moment of look-ing at affairs in a broad sense, but the object of all trainlook-ing must be to guide that mind in the direction of right thinking. In order to accomplish this the instructor himself must be able to estimate about what are the channels of thought in the mind of the men being trained, in order that he may so conduct his own part of the work as to gain the confidence of the men he is instructing or leading.
In developing the soldier's mind the most rapid progress is made by placing upon the man, as early as practicable, as much responsibility as he can stand. This placing of responsibility on the man stimulates his pride, raises his self-respect, and urges him to better effort. This is applicable in all kinds of train-ing. It is character building, frequently called moral training, and the most effective means of stimulating self-development.
Every soldier, down to and including the last recruit, will sooner or later become a leader in a smaller or greater sense. In battle, as battles are now hands of the officers, and small groups of men must accomplish objectives necessarily conducted, direct responsibility very frequently goes out of the by themselves; hence leadership must be assumed by some or all of these men. Any one of them may be placed in a position where he must act independently and make his own decision on his own responsibility, which requires thinking and acting on his own judgment. It requires leadership. And it is to develop these latent qualities of leadership that this educational programme has been inaugurated.
uni-FEDERATION OF LABOR 133
versity in every sense of the word, and each man composing it a student, recrea-tional activity will be a part of its training. Here the army chaplain enters as an important factor in the handling by military means alone of all the camp activities formerly furnished by the Y. M. C. A., Knights of Columbus, etc., and the Americanization of aliens in the army.
Under the system of education now in force it is possible for men to receive instruction so as to fit them to be carpenters, blacksmiths, pharmacists, dental assistants, engine workers, mechanics, draftsmen, stenographers, truck gardeners, motor drivers, repair men, telegraphers, radio and telephone operators, etc. Such educational subjects as English, geography, mathematics, United States history and modern languages are also taught. Of course, at the present stage of the game it is not possible to give instruction in all subjects at any one camp or post, but so far as practicable, the desires of the enlisted man as to the courses to be taken by them will be met.
A certificate will be given by the local commanding officer or school officer to each man who successfully completes a course, indicating that he has satis-factorily completed the course studied. A standard War Department certificate will later be adopted, and the possession of such a certificate by a soldier who has been discharged with a character of "Excellent" will be sufficietnt recom-mendation to a civilian employer as to the qualifications of the discharged sol-dier for employment.
On the other hand, it is highly important that the men themselves take the thing seriously and realize that the government is concerned not only in making trained soldiers of them, but also making of them supporting and self-respecting members of the communities to which they will return on discharge. This work is unique in the history of the government, and highly important in showing the trend of the army in facing the new problems developed by the World War. It will result in making the army in time of peace a more valu-"able factor in the life of the nation by producing men of best possible type, having a good general education, possessing a useful trade, but, above all, thoroughly trained in moral character and the duties and responsibilities of good citizenship.--From Service and Information Bureau. By Maj. Gen. W. G. Haan, in charge of education and recreation in the army.
The New International Federation of Labor.-Those interested in labor history will find in the October, 1919, issue of the American
Federa-tionist a significant report concerning the formation of a new International
Fed-eration of Labor. The report of the delegates from the American FedFed-eration of Labor is given in full. The meeting was significant, as this was the first time that labor delegates from all the leading countries had met since the armistice was signed. The feeling against the German delegates was plainly manifest and it is interesting to note that the American delegates minced no words in paying their respects to the leaders of the German labor movement.
134 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY
Gompers, elected president of the new federation. Mr. Jouhaux of France de-feated Carl Legien of Germany, who had served for years as secretary of the old federation, for the first vice-presidency, and Mr. Legien declined to be nominated for the second vice-presidency, stating that the German delegation could take no further part in the formation of the new federation.
Another significant action was the vote on the labor clauses of the Phace
Treaty. The committee that considered this subject reported as follows: "The International Trade Union Congress at Amsterdam declares that it can-not accept as the full expression of the demands of the working classes of all countries the clauses of the "Charter of Labor" as contained in the Versailles
Peace Treaty.
"Only a simple comparison of the clauses of the official Peace Treaty with the program adopted at Berne (February, 1919) by the International Trade Unions shows distinctly the insufficiency of this charter."
The American delegates opposed the report of the committee, and Mr. Gompers made a long appeal for the support of the new federation of labor pro-visions of the treaty. The English delegation supported Mr. Gompers in this position. Nevertheless, the report of the committee was adopted by a vote of
31 to 20 votes.
The report under review gives a very good perspective of the international labor politics of the post-war period. It is significant that the new interna-tional starts out under the leadership of an English-speaking president. Ger-man domination of the international labor movement is for the time completely
broken.
Juvenile Delinquency in Chicago.-The following is taken from the Fifth Annual Report of the President of the Cook County (Ill.) Com-missioners:
"The war's disturbing aftermath has registered its effect on the year's activities of the Juvenile Court. A significant feature has been the in-creased delinquency among boys. Comparative figures for three years tell this story:
D elinquent Dependent
Year Boys Girls Total Children
1917 ... 2,328 679 3,007 2,073
1918 ... 2,306 730 3,036 2,083
1919 ... 2,713 743 3,456 1,968
"Analysis of these totals shows an increase of 16 per cent in the num-ber of delinquent boys' cases, as compared with 1918; approximately the same number of delinquent girls; and a material decrease in the cases of dependent children. Chief Probation Officer Moss thus interprets the in-fluences yielding these results:
JUVENILE DELINQUENCY
"Good industrial conditions, also, may have been a factor in the latter result. Dependent children committed to institutions and associations num-bered 964 in the past year, as compared with 972 in 1918. The former total would be less by approximately 150 had it not been for the reorganization of the Chicago Home for Jewish Orphans under the industrial and manual training school laws. All the juvenile dependents in that institution were brought into court and committed as public charges. The net result, as Mr. Moss points out, was the placing of the financial responsibility for the care of these children upon the county instead of on private charities. "The investigation section of the probation department plans to take over during the ensuing year the cases of delinquent girls coming to the attention of the police. A step already has been taken by having a social investigation of such girls' homes made by a woman officer, .although leaving responsibility for the handling of the cases with the police, de-partment. Preparation of such cases can never be satisfactory, it is held, while girl delinquents are left in the care of men officers. Continuing the policy of leaving children in charge of their natural guardians when-ever possible, as well as vesting the chief probation officer and the officer in charge of the police probation officers with responsibility for the release of any child held pending a hearing, brought a substantial reduc-tion in the number of children held by the police. It also has relieved the crowding to overflowing of the Juvenile Detention Home.
"Increased revenue for mothers' pensions resulted in the handling of 1,254 cases within the past year, as compared with 508 in 1918. The court officials propose that steps be taken to amend the law, removing the limitation of the amount per child which can be granted. In estimating such relief allowance on the basis of the whole family budget, it is pointed out that the family, instead of the individual child, is taken as the unit. This system is held to have sometimes resulted in undernourishment of the children and the breakdown of the mother through excessive work and worry.
"Citizens of Cook County generously have solved for us one of the most perplexing problems persisting for several years. By their big-hearted authorization at last month's referendum of a special $1,000,000 bond issue, they decreed the passing of the antiquated, ill-arranged, out--grown and overcrowded Juvenile Detention Home. They declared for the
realization of the hopes and plans of your honorable board for a new and modernized home, flooded with fresh air and sunshine and equipped with every facility that shall make for the physical and mental betterment of the county's unfortunate children. This popular and humane declaration for a square deal to our juvenile wards who must contend so early with life's misfortunes stands also, in my opinion, as an expression of the pub-lie's confidence in the Juvenile Court and your management of this phase of your manifold duties.
136 DISCIPLINARY BARRACKS
known to you, as are yours to me. I know we can give a pledge that in this uplifting task so generously placed in our hands by our citizens we will return satisfactory accomplishment.
"The first responsibility reposing upon you is the selection of a proper location. Various sites have been proposed, but the ultimate choice is in your hands. A special committee, already authorized by you, will proceed at once to formulate its recommendation after careful survey in all sections, taking into consideration the districts from which come the majority of youthful delinquents and dependents. The site finally chosen will influence, naturally, the building plans.
"During the year just ended, approximately 4,800 children were re-ceived at the Juvenile Detention Home, the ratio of delinquents to de-pendents being about 4y2 to 1. Located in one of the most congested districts of the west side, its neighborhood could not be worse. Soot and dirt rain in winter and summer long. Playgrounds and healthful air are denied. Necessary sanitation is strangled. The new home, now pos-sible, will be swept by fresh air and sunshine, flanked by playgrounds, have bright schoolrooms, probably cottages for residence, and every con-tributant to physical and mental well-being. It will permit proper segre-gation of dependents and delinquents. It will provide isolation hospital facilities, now utterly lacking, so that victims of childhood's ills may have most efficient treatment. Dangers of infections or epidemics will be eliminated. There will be a laundry, bakery and similar auxiliaries. In short, the new home will afford the juvenile wards of Chicago and Cook County that maximum of care which must make for their betterment, preparing hosts of youthful offenders and poverty victims for future good citizenship.
"In this humane task of salvaging the juvenile drift, the juvenile court will be quartered in this new home, thus doing away with the present carting of children through the streets. This will permit, too, the teachers and officials of the institution to intimately aid the court in its adjudica-tions."--R. H. G.
An Outline of the Policy Pursued at the U. S. Disciplinary Barracks,
Governors Island, N., Y., and the Principles Underlying the Policy:
The Military Offender
Upon the admission of a convicted offender to the disciplinary bar-racks two courses of action towards him are possible, one punitive, the other reconstructive.
The first means the applying of the strictest discipline and the placing of the offender at tasks which will cause him, if possible, to regret most thoroughly his ever having become involved in trouble. The other in-volves the relaxation of military discipline to some degree and the edu-cation of the offender by suitable methods so as to equipp him the better to avoid offending in the future.
The treatment of the military offender at these barracks has been along reconstructive lines and this course has been followed for several
DISCIPLINARY BARRACKS
(1) Offenders are in a great majority of cases not sent to the disci-plinary barracks for their first offense; their records usually show several previous offenses due to maladjustment to military discipline. The imposition of a stricter and harsher discipline, while it would control the offender for the time being, at the same time would not hold out assurances that the relaxation of it after release would have accomplished the desired result, namely, normal adjustment to the demands of civil or military life. This is more clearly demonstrated by our second consideration, the study
of the man behind the offense.
(2) Every military prisoner upon admission is given a thorough mental and physical examination. In addition, a correspondence field study is employed. Every possible source of information is made use of to obtain a complete history of the offender, so that at the end of a month or six weeks we are in a position to make a reasonably accurate estimate of the kind of man we are dealing with, what his requirements are, what his abilities, and are in a position to make at least a tentative prediction as to his future possibilities.
Resulting from these studies we find that some offenders are medically sick men, such as the insane, the epileptic, the feeble-minded, the drug addict, and, in some cases, the alcoholic. Others show character defects which have resulted in an anti-social attitude-the criminals-or an inability to adjust themselves to an environment, as shown by truancy in school life and lack of persistence in employment.
A relatively small number can be said to be normal or accidental offenders, whose delinqeuncies are chargeable to social or economic con-ditions.
(3) To treat military offenders in accordance with up-to-date recog-nized methods.
The first or punitive method of treatment should be the method pvailing in a regular organization and carried out by that organization, re-sulting in short, disagreeable sentences in the post guardhouse. It ig not possible nor desirable to employ the reconstructive method of treatment in a regular military organization. However, if the repeated infliction of short punishments for offenses does not result in the permanent correction of an offender he then becomes a candidate for the reconstructive method
of treatment as practiced in the disciplinary barracks.
The treatment of the military offender in the disciplinary barracks has a two-fold object-first, return him to the colors a better soldier, or, secondly, if unfitted for military service to return him to civil life, if
possible, a better citizen.
The Discipl ary Battalion
138 DISCIPLINARY BARRACKS
members of the battalion are given considerable liberty on the theory that it is wiser to detect those lacking in self-control before, rather than after, restoration. The battalion barracks has neither bolts nor bars; the battalion cooks and serves its own rations and does its own guard duty. It is under the supervision of one commissioned and several non-commissioned officers.
If after three months of intensive military training a member of the battalion is certified as capable of taking his place in a regular military organization he is recommended for restoration to the service.
Numbered Men
The numbered men consist of those whose examinations show that they are not desirable for the disciplinary battalion, although some after further observation may prove to be so. The treatment of these men is along educational and vocational lines. Fully 40% of them show the need of education. Classes in primary subjects are conducted during the morning hours by experienced Y. M. C. A. teachers for this class. In the afternoon the same conducts classes for more advanced work. In the evening classes of a vocational and educational nature, such as electrical installation, vocal and instrumental music and so forth, are in session.
In the vocational work, advantage is taken of the existing shops, others will be added, in which to place prisoners after examination, where some useful trade my be acquired.
The Honor Association
DISCIPLINARY BARRACKS 139
that members will realize that individual misbehavior reacts unfavorably on the whole body. The association has its rules and regulations and its tribunals for the trial and punishment of its own offenders. In this way members of the honor association are taught while in the barracks a respect
for constituted law and order.
Certain privileges are given for good conduct, and certain punish-ments are prescribed for misbehavior, so that it is to the advantage of the organization to keep "barracks offenses" down to the minimum.
It is hoped that lessons learned in their own organization will be applied to the larger social order upon their own release.
The honor association includes all but 30 prisoners. Every new ar-rival is met by a member of the association and is made acquainted with the benefits of its membership. In this way flew arrivals are immediately
brought in contract with the better element, whereas in the past it was the disgruntled and antagonistic element which first approached the
new-comer.
The association has regular weekly meetings. It has its own con-stitution, by-laws, rules
"and
regulations and standing committees. It pledges itself, through appointed sergeants-at-arms, to maintain good order in and about the barracks and to be careful of all sanitary and other regulations. If any member of the association detects another breaking any rule of the barracks he is in honor bound to report the offense to the organization. The offending member is then brought before the associa-tion's tribunal and if found guilty is asked to sign a statement requesting that he undergo the punishment prescribed by the court.The association has a grievance committee which meets the command-ant weekly to present to him matters of interest in the association and possible grievances. As a result, no matter of dissatisfaction is harbored amongst the prisoners without the commandant's knowledge. Recently this committee notified the commandant that the organization was having some difficulty with its offending members. These members preferred trial by the prison court instead of trial by the honor court, for the reason that the punishment by the former was less severe than in the latter. It was requested that the punishments prescribed by the prison court be made of equal severity to those of the association's court.
The benefits of this association, both to the prisoners and to the bar-racks, are many. Gambling has been eliminated from the institution, the number of trials by prison court has decreased fully 75%. Better order prevails in the mess hall, the yard, in fact, the whole tone of the barracks is improved. Prisoners are more contented and misbehavior is reduced to a minimum.
Recreation
Appropriate recreation is enjoyed by prisoners, consisting of moving pictures and other shows at regular intervals, and athletic games out of doors.
Sentences
DISCIPLINARY BARRACKS
been said about the practical working out of these sentences in the disci-plinary barracks. The man behind the sentence is considered here more than the sentence itself.. In fact, every sentence is indeterminate and indefinite. It is possible, and has happened that prisoners sentenced to serve upwards of 20 years have been restored to the colors in fewer months. In fact it is possible for a prisoner with a life sentence to be restored to a regular organization in five months. In the case of num-bered men recommendations for their release have been made for various reasons on account of youth, mental inferiority, inadequate personality, nervous instability and the financial condition of their dependents, so that in the case of these prisoners, as well as the battalion men the sentence really cuts but little figure. This practice of recommending prisoners for release, as outlined above, was the general policy of this institution months before the present clemency board was appointed.
As a matter of fact we are confronted by a much greater administra-tive problem by the short sentences now imposed than by the longer ones. Men with short sentences are generally apathetic as to restoration. Six-month sentence, with good-conduct time deducted, releases a man by expiration of his sentence in five months, too short a time for the cot.-rective and disciplinary measures applied to him to become sufficiently effective to warrant restoration. A shorter sentence than six months, and some are shorter, practically precludes the possibility of extending restora-tion.
There are two or three cases that have recently come to attention of positive victims of short sentences. One man has been continuously in the hospital with ear trouble and no corrective or disciplinary measures could be applied before the expiration of his sentence. This is especially so on the entrance to the institution of a short term man. He may, at first, not desire to work for restoration, but later .on he may change his mind, but when this decision is made it frequently happens that there is such a short period left as to render impossible the restoring of a prisoner in the usual way.
No man should be sent to the disciplinary barracks for a shorter period than one year. Men with longer sentences have something definite to work for, which is not the case with shorter term men. The longer sentence awakens the prisoner to a healthy, laudable endeavor, while the shorter sentences stifle ambition. The short term prisoner sits back and waits for the end of his term; appeals to work for restoration fall on deaf ears and the morale of the institution is in consequence lowered.
Criminals
